Well you should know from the blog what the cabinet looks like, the basics of the sound system, who is doing the music and sfx, color proofs of the playfield, several of the toys he's working on, the lcd in attract mode, the wood and clear coat he's going with for the playfield, and all the testing he has done for the lighting.
That's just off the top of my head.
As for production status and shipping info, I think you might be getting a little ahead of yourself there. It's gonna be a while before we cross that bridge.
I'm not sure what more you are expecting besides having the finished pin in your possession.

My mistake also. I never considered you were talking about MG.
I'm not in on MG, so I had no idea you guys weren't getting similar info. I definitely see your point.

What others on here aren't realizing is RAZA was never a dedicated zombie pin. From day one, it was a nod towards 50's sci-fi "B" movies. It always was going to have aliens, zombies and hot chicks in the game.

I've been extremely patient through all this, at times even forgetting I was in on RAZA. In the last 6 months or so I have changed my tune and I can say I'm fed up with Jpop. I purposely didn't go to his shop during Expo because I knew it would just piss me off worse.
I'm in on a cointaker version and we were expected to keep up on our payments. I'm almost paid in full which is no small chunk of change for me.
I did just now leave a message on the blog echoing what you guys have already been saying, although I'm sure that won't even phase him.

I did and my post still says awaiting moderation. When did that start happening?

Does my post even show up for you guys?

shrublight on December 17, 2014 at 9:45 am
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
I’ve had $9500 paid in since October 2013. It’s time to start giving us some info, time tables, etc.
John how well do you think Zidware will do in the future, given the current state of pre-ordering. I know I’ll never do it again. No pin is worth losing this much cash over.

Ok done. Thanks! I'm at work now so I won't get any emails until I get home. I will post on there late tonight.

I see your post. Tried posting mine again. Same awaiting moderation. I'll try from the email once I'm home.

Well Ice do we have any legal recourse? I'm sure since I bought mine from cointaker I would have to go after them, which would be unfortunate as Chris is a good guy.

I just tried posting from an email. Still says my comment is awaiting moderation. Guess I don't get to bitch on the blog.

I did talk to Chris from Cointaker. He's not real happy how things are going and has games on order from Jpop for himself. His money is tied up the same as ours.

Chris didn't mention anything about liability insurance, but did say he has quite a lot of money invested in this.
He said the games will get done but Jpop needs to get off his ass and complete something. He most definitely agrees it's been way too long.

I'm gonna take a shit in my shirt and mail it back to him.

I got one......slightly soiled. I'll let it go for what I have in it. A mere $9500.00 cash only.

Don't know if you saw my post earlier, but I talked to Chris today and he said he's got way more invested than all of us. Great guy for sure!

that's what scares the hell out of me. He's out of cash and stalling, hoping somehow more cash flows in.

I was just looking through my paperwork.
The Timeline
Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland pinball will follow a normal pinball development schedule of approximately 14 months at a minimum. Yeah no shit John, maybe 14 years at a maximum.

Then at the end of the paragraph, I about spit up my beer.
Any compressions, delays or extensions to the planned schedule, will be communicated in a timely manner.
I guess ignoring your damn customers is a timely matter.

Does anybody remember how we were supposed to be able to personally customize our game? You, the purchaser, will have an opportunity in the design process to create, select and/or change certain features, decorative parts, mechanics and/or artwork.
Well John, I select to have my money back ya squirrelly jack wagon.

Completely agree. I was looking through old posts in the blog and seeing post after post of all the stuff he purchased to set up his "pin factory". All that equipment wasn't cheap I'm sure. I'd also venture to say we funded that equipment.
I'm purely speculating here, but I really don't see AIW ever being made. The pre-pay funding is over. Too many people, not just Jpops customers have had money tied up for way to long. I'm sure he has a handful of customers that got in on AIW but I really doubt there are enough to keep him afloat.

Is his radio silence really his ego at play here, or is it because he doesn't have any good news and knows he's on the brink of Zeroware going defunct? Wished I knew that answer.

I'm positive Jpop told me before he taught some college classes. Possibly that is his living money and he never touched OUR cash for his income?

Not with me it won't be! I'm in the same boat. Used to really admire the guy. Now I think he's a flake and I'm getting beyond pissed.
I don't care how great the games are or if they shoot off fireworks when you get a jackpot.
This is no way to treat customers that supported him and his fledgling pinball company.
I don't care if you are a multi-million dollar business owner, a six figure doctor or lawyer, or a comfortably middle class steel worker like myself. This is way too much money of other people's to be jacking around with. Like many have said, all he needs to do is communicate. You know, like we were promised in the beginning. We are going to be part of the entire process. I see how that was all bullshit now.
I don't want to see more of the same damn art work in different colors. We should be seeing pictures of the machines being built.
Zeroware will never see another sale to me, even if he was clearing out pins for 3 grand a piece.

Did you read this entire thread? Many of the buyers including myself jumped in on this because of jpop's prior experience. So we're all stupid because we should of known a guy with 30ish years of experience was gonna flake out?
You could of said the same thing for any pre-order.

Yep, I feel he is in breach of the contract. It wouldn't be such a big deal if we were kept in the loop on what's going on and had some idea of when these pins would be completed. Obviously he thinks it's OK to go into ostrich mode.
He's running out of time with me. He has time to post stupid dog pics (and why did every reply on the blog kiss his ass about the dog) but can't let his customers know what the hell is going on.
I can't see this having a good outcome anymore.

I'm in for 9500

Don't forget he has an army of ex Bally Williams people on staff. All of which conveniently wished to remain anonymous.

Originally I didn't want a refund, but I am so fed up with this shit, all I want is my money back now.
I'm in on a Cointaker version so my payments were made to them. I called Chris not long ago and was told his hands are tied same as ours. He tried calling JPop that same day and like everybody else got his voice mail.
I had been tossing around the idea of getting a lawyer but was hesitant for many reasons. I've been talking with ice and I'm behind him all the way.

A handul of wealthy gotta have it now types wiĺl, but not enough people to sustain his so called business. Hell that one guy has been trying to sell his spot at a loss and can't get any takers.
This is probably why he was talking about getting an investor a while back.

It's also possible he wasn't planning on buying a new house but his and his wife's dream house came up for sale unexpectedly. Three years with an uncertain end in site is a long time to have that cash tied up.
How can you even justify Jpop is in the right to keep people's money at this point?

I know what you are saying but you need to realize the guy isn't Miss Cleo.
things come up in life unexpectedly.
Since I got in on raza I've been diagnosed and beat cancer. What if I had needed the money for medical reasons? Would you sit there saying that I valued a pin more than my health? I had no idea I would have needed money for medical bills when I decided to send in my money for jpops fiasco. Luckily I didn't need the money otherwise I would have been shit out of luck.
We don't always know the whole story.

Meaning you can't post or can't even get in to view it?

After he mails you a few papers to sign and you must sign up two new buyers.

That was actually brought up to me a while back and I think you are not far off track with that.

and I bet your post says awaiting moderation doesn't it?

Everything you just brought up has absolutely nothing to do with his ideas being ripped off.
It's completely asinine that he wouldn't have been keeping us in the loop on these things for ages now.
I'm sure most of us have seen the trend. The natives get a little restless, bitch about working 7 days a week, then throw us a bone and put up some pictures of revised art or an old toy he is dismantling to get ideas from. Now it's I'm gonna hire a guy......
What happened to all of those ex B/W people he had working for him that wanted to remain anonymous?
In hind sight looking at all the red flags I really feel like a sucker dumbass.
yeah and I know who you guys are that are shaking your head in agreement. I don't need to be reminded.

The fact that people have to try and talk him into doing these sort of things says all I need to know and wished I had known prior to sending my money to the asshole.

Exactly what I was thinking. If everything is financially sound why the hell is he stiffing vendors and refusing refunds?
To me this is just another SSDD. He told you what you wanted to hear like he's been doing all along to everybody.

One difference would be that not all of us were given access to post on the private blog and although Mr. JPop has time to post dog pictures he can't be bothered to give permission for all of us to post.

If this is true why can't people get refunds?

Apparently with GLM not getting paid and not supplying anymore boards.

So let me get this straight.
Feb. 4, 2014 we had a blog post of J Pop opening up a box of driver boards.
These boards were a revision to a board he had been testing since the summer of 2013.
It is now March of 2015 and we are still at square one for the hardware?

If so, how was there going to be a flipping MG back in December and Raza last month?
If the hardware and programming are still in early stages, how are the games, as StevenP states, 90% and 80% done?

I wished to hell you had shared this story back when I was being asked if I wanted out because so many people wanted in. That's back when I first started to see his bullshit lies.

You didn't answer his question. Are you going to discuss refunds with jpop?

Thank you. Also see if there is still going to be a difference between the regular and cointaker versions on RAZA.
Last time I asked Chris he had no idea and if there is not going to be any difference, I don't think the CT people should have to pay $500 more.

But it would only take 15 minutes to pull out his phone and shoot some video and upload it.

Damn this post about the cash and vendors looks amazingly similar to a PM from last night.
I'm really glad/relieved you posted this though.
Most of you probably don't know that this cointaker news isn't new to everybody. Nothing has been publicly said about it out of politeness concerning airing others dirty laundry. More specifically, publicly talking about Chris' business.
I think now we need full disclosure, to show everybody what a piece of shit John is, whether he has any cash left or not. And I don't want to hear any crap about oh John is so sensitive, we have to walk on egg shells around him. That's part of the problem that got us where we are today.

I know he never intentionally set out to rip people off, but at this point it really doesn't matter if he had. I've seen so many scams from my dealings on high end video games and let me tell you guys he has been following the playbook to a T. Lie, stall, always talk in circles so your lies don't come back to bite you in the ass, rinse and repeat.
In every situation I have seen, it takes a group of people getting together to compare stories to start getting the truth out there, which is what has finally started to take place.
I've been in the same frame of mind as ykpinballer. None of this has financially added up for a long time.
How ironic how John was going to usher in a new era of pinball and as it turns out he has been more detrimental to pinball and the community than anything ever before.

I'm not taking your comment as dickish, so no worries there. In fact I would normally agree with you about this project failing except I, like others have said, felt this would be the project to succeed due to John's prior experience.
As for the secrecy part. It wasn't supposed to be that way for the owners! Part of the sales pitch was that we would be part of the entire process every step of the way.
Normally I would have never considered doing a pre-order. This was supposed to be my "one and done" NIB purchase. I bet on the wrong horse, which really adds insult to injury for me because I'm the type of person that rarely even buys lotto tickets.
I didn't even take the Skit-B game into consideration because honestly I had no idea what was going on in that camp. I'm to wrapped up in my misery over this to even want to read more bad news for the people in on Predator. I made my own assumption a while ago that they didn't have the rights to produce what they have been showing, but never really knew if it was a correct assumption.
This whole fiasco has definitely left me bitter, even if I would get my game or preferably a refund. Others have also said the same and I'm sure the Predator people feel equally the same. It doesn't matter to me if it's 17 grand or 500 bucks, it's too much money to piss away.

Exactly! So with his experience he should, should mind you, know what he needed to get outsourced, hire people to do for him, etc.
Also according to what he has told us, he does have a manufacturing game plan. It's just nobody added in the nutball factor and the probable cash burn.

We got 5000 wanna be comedians on this forum but that right there got a good laugh out of me.

Edit: Better add kudos for this one too.

So how do we force him to show the financials? It's obvious we can't take his word on anything.

Wished I could thumbs up this X 1000.
I'm really not getting this "but he's a nice guy" shit from so many people. Nice people don't steal from other people and John not paying his bills is stealing. It didn't just slip his mind, he didn't forget or an invoice got misplaced. It's deliberate.
You guys ever get a phone call from someone saying they are from your bank or the IRS and need your SS#? They're really nice to you on the phone also.

I for one appreciate what you have been doing Ice, but I feel now is not the time for us to sit back. We have for too long which let John get us all in the situation we are in now.
Now is the time to lay into him and force him to get his shit together. If he won't then we legally force him.
I know I'm not alone in saying I care about my money.

I'd say John doesn't even know the answer to that. I'm sure it was much more than it should have been.

Now Now, the games are coming along nicely, better than ever imagined. It's his best work.
See, look how busy he is. He's gotta get these signs mounted....pronto.

11050766_942050345839506_5037804777760629228_n.jpg

We went from one scam right into another. Let's force people to buy in on a $16,000 game with no guarantees....again.

Sadly, no it's not.
I wished it was a joke.

I think you and ChrisVW are overlooking this part of the contract.

"No, I would like to wait for the possibility of production of RAZA and/or AIW
machine(s) which I originally ordered. Prices and credits yet to be determined."

Take note of the words possibility, prices, credits, and to be determined.

Exactly! I've had it with listening to people say he's just a really bad business man. Nobody could run a business into the ground this badly, not even an imbecile. A 12 year old could manage money better. This guy has lied and schemed from the onset of this. This is nothing short of criminal and he's still trying to play people. The guy deserves to lose everything.
And there are people still wanting to play along just to get their rare pin. Damn I'm in the wrong line of work.

I'm feeling the same way, except I have no Jpop pins to burn. I'm really trying to be patient thinking if I sell all of my pins I might regret it down the road. I can't even enjoy playing them anymore without thinking of the butt load of cash I literally threw away. It's sickening really.

I'm seeing a lot of comments based on the original Pintasia proposal.
The latest contract says nothing about upgrading to the cheaper MG at 2 credit.
It also clearly states that those wishing to remain in on RAZA and AIW will get 1 credit, which to me makes this pill a lot easier to swallow, but it still says the possibility of production and mentions no pricing on those 2 games. MG is still priced at $15,995. No way I was signing it with the language, price and credits to be determined for RAZA and AIW.
I'm not saying I'm for this, but I was completely against the first contract.

message MR68 to get on the FB group.
message wcbrandes about the Pintasia proposal.

I was never given posting permission on the blog. I've written several posts that I'm sure Jpop sees but nobody else can.
So, how many other of the "buyers" can't post?

Maybe we can all pull our money together, one last time for our good buddy John, and send him to pinball building school.

No, it was John not having any idea how to build a pinball machine. His attention to detail, constantly changing the art work and talking about adding new toys was because he had no clue how to move forward on actually making a working machine.

Seems to me the majority of the negativity concerning AP are from people that don't have skin in the Jpop fiasco.

It doesn't matter, let's have another 10,000 posts of misinformation, wild speculation from the self proclaimed experts and people bitching just to hear themselves bitch.

I'm not taking any sides here, but.....
I didn't see this person you are referring to, say anything different than anybody else already said, that was in contact with AP. Did I miss the "pump and dump"?
For the record, I was contacted by a person to sell my MG spot and if I had a MG spot, I would would of jumped at the chance. Although I would of told the buyer he better make damn sure of what he is doing before money exchanged hands. I'm not saying that didn't happen between the parties of any supposed sale of a MG.